Mr. Speaker, as a small clarification, it is $5.92 a tonne that is being expected to translate into savings to producers.
I agree with the hon. member. I do not believe that the $5.92 will find its way into the pockets of producers. I feel, somewhere between the railroads, the grain companies and the Canadian Wheat Board in particular, that a lot of that $5.92 may well disappear. I am not so sure that the $5.92 a tonne is the real number. I am not sure if this $178 million that is being held up as the rationale for pushing the bill through the House so quickly is the real number.
The government has not convinced me that this $178 million is there, although it does say that it is an 18% reduction in the revenues. I appreciate that but I am not so sure it will get to the producers.
As for his question on whether I believe this will help producers, the member obviously did not listen to my lengthy debate. I said that was not going to happen. I do not believe this legislation will in fact help producers.
We disagree on the rationale for that. The hon. member believes it will not help producers because 25% of the control will be taken away from the Canadian Wheat Board. I feel it will not help producers because enough of that control has not been taken away. I feel it should be a truly commercial system. There should be competition within the system. There should be main line access by other competitors. It should be open because that truly would help producers.
We disagree on the reason and rationale, but I think both of us agree that it will not help producers.